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“Have you gotten rid of anything issued by Tempest?”
“A few things, most notably my phone. Tempest could’ve easily put a tracking device in our phones. We’re supposed to carry them with us at all times. They have a hotline to Tempest and not much else.” He flicked a finger at the map somewhere south of them. “But this is what I’m interested in. This looks like the agent closest to us—somewhere in Central America.”
“Wait. Click on the red dot so we can see who it is.”
Max clicked on the dot, and a head shot appeared on the screen with a name.
“You know him?”
“That’s Malcolm Snyder, or at least that’s the name he gave me. He’s very quiet, almost shy. Are you going to try to track him down?”
“My goal is to get to all of them, help all of them break free.”
She laid her hand over his on the mouse. “You need to break free first, Max. You can’t save every Tempest agent unless you save yourself.”
“I know that, which is why we’ll keep looking through Arnoff’s files. We may have to venture onto the next big town so we can buy a power cord for the laptop. I don’t think the local hardware store is going to have one.”
“Looks like we have another half hour or so.” She tugged on his arm. “Let me get on there. If we’re not following my system, I might as well start searching for some common formulas.”
They switched places, and he pulled another bagel from the bag. “Do you want one?”
“You take it.” As the laptop’s battery drained, she started typing more furiously. Every action seemed like a race against time—if not the battery, then the blue pills. What would happen to Max when he ran out? To save his life, he might have to throw himself on Tempest’s mercy. He wouldn’t allow himself to go down the same road as Simon—possibly hurting other people, possibly hurting her.
She glanced over her shoulder at him lounging across the bed, biting into a bagel and watching a football game on TV. Would he take himself out rather than submitting to Tempest again? She shivered and slurped a sip of lukewarm coffee.
She entered another chemical from Dr. Arnoff’s original T-101 formula and clicked on Search. Three files popped up and she sucked in a breath.
“I got a hit here.”
He muted the TV and joined her at the credenza.
“This chemical is in the original formula.” She opened the first file and the formula for T-101 was laid out on the screen. Her pulse rate ticked up. “We’re onto something.”
“You’re onto something. That looks like gobbledygook to me.”
“Very important gobbledygook.” She minimized the file and opened the next one. Her gaze darted down the screen, and she squealed and grabbed Max’s arm. “I think this is it. I think this is the formula for the antidote.”
He squinted at the letters and numbers against the white background. “What’s that going to do for us?”
“Max—” she bounced in the seat “—this is the antidote. You can take one dose of this and it will counter effect the T-101 in your body—no blue pills, no more shots. You’re done.”
He scratched the sexy stubble on his chin. “It’s just a formula on a computer. How do we actually get the antidote?”
She shoved back from the credenza as a low-battery message flashed across the screen. “We make it.”
“You can make—” his finger circled the air in front of the computer screen “—that.”
“I know how to mix a formula. I know what these chemicals are. I was allowed to do that work with Dr. Arnoff, and I’ve done it before in other labs.”
“Yeah, but you had an actual lab. Where are you going to cook up that stuff now? In the sink at the Desert Sun Motel?”
She jumped up from the chair and paced the floor. “I know who can find me a lab—and those chemicals.”
His voice rose. “Really? Who?”
“My brother.”
Chapter Ten
Max folded his arms, his rising excitement extinguished by Ava’s words, which acted like a splash of cold water. “Your brother? The guy who completely screwed up your life?”
